Utility Planet is the official blog for the column of the same name in The Spectrum Monitor. It replaces Utility World in the discontinued Monitoring Times magazine. Utilities are all VLF/LF/MF/HF (and sometimes low-band VHF) radio communications except broadcasting, CB, and non-emergency amateur. If you understood the last sentence, you know enough to read this blog.

Friday, August 29, 2014

For this weekend’s
transmission of Tibetan text on VOA Radiogram, you might be able to see
the Tibetan characters in the receive pane. No copy and paste to a word
processor will be required. If all goes well.

Dave, W1HKJ, lead
developer of Flidigi, suggests an adjustment to RX Font: Configure >
Colors & Fonts: The Rx/Tx Character set should be UTF-8, then (if
you have a Microsoft OS) change
Rx font to Microsoft Himalaya. Because this font is very small, increase the point size to 20.

With Linux, the font is Tibetan Machine Uni. I’m not sure which point size is best in this OS.

You can switch to
the Himalaya font just before the Tibetan is transmitted 22:39 into the
show. Or you can use the Himalaya font for the entire show, because it
prints out adequately in English. (I don’t
know if Tibetan Machine Uni does English.)

Thursday, August 28, 2014

The September Utility Planet, out today, contains the assertion that the number nine ("nueve" in Spanish) rarely appears in Cuban numbers transmissions.

While this was true until fairly recently, a lengthy HM01 project done by this editor shows that the number nine now appears as often as any other.

A note to this effect was put into the October column, which will be out next month, along with a better explanation of how the 5-number groups that designate the digital file transfers often increment each day.

These files are completely binary, and no one in the hobby has successfully decrypted one. There is no telling what's in them.

VOA Radiogram during
the weekend of 30-31 August will begin with the transmission of a
straight vertical blue line. Some of us experience slant when we decode
MFSK images, so this line will help us determine
if we have a slant problem. If your line is slanted, URLs for web
pages that might help solve the problem will be provided.

Near the end of the
program will be a brief sample of Tibetan language text. “Chicken
tracks” like this will appear in the Fldigi receive pane…

Copy this line and
paste it to a word processor, and the Tibetan text might display
correctly. Your PC will need the MS Himalayan font installed.

Chinese domestic radio will be co-channel and usually dominant on all
these frequencies. The Olivia 32-2000 has often provided
successful decodes, despite the interference, even outside the East
Asian target region.

The Mighty KBC will transmit its usual minute of
MFSK64 Saturday at 1130 UTC on 6095 kHz and Sunday at 0130 UTC (Saturday
9:30 pm EDT) on 9925 kHz. Both frequencies are via Germany. Reception
reports to themightykbc@gmail.com .

Thank you for your interesting reception reports on all the above
transmissions. Because of a disruption to my usual routine on Friday and
Saturday, I will be late answering reception reports with the eQSL, and
won't meet the usual end-of-weekend deadline.

Saturday, August 09, 2014

To Be Where the Audience Is - Report of the Special Committee onthe Future of Shortwave Broadcasting

WASHINGTON (August 1, 2014) - The Broadcasting Board of Governorstoday released "To Be Where the Audience Is," a report that foundshortwave radio to be essential to listeners in target countries,but of marginal impact in most markets. The report'srecommendations came after a comprehensive review, grounded inaudience-based research, of the efficacy of shortwave as adistribution platform for U.S. international media.

"Shortwave radio continues to be an important means for largenumbers of peoÆq6e [garble - Hugh] countries to receive news andinformation," said Matt Armstrong, who chaired the BBG's SpecialCommittee on the Future of Shortwave Broadcasting, which issuedthe report. "However, many of our networks' target audiences havemoved to newer platforms including TV, FM and digital media. Thisreport maps a way forward for U.S. international media to remainaccessible for all our audiences."

Research-based evidence of media trends suggests that theincreased availability and affordability of television, mobiledevices and Internet access has led to the declining use ofshortwave around the world. Still, the report finds thatsubstantial audiences embrace shortwave in Nigeria, Burma, NorthKorea, Afghanistan, Somalia, Zimbabwe, Cuba and other targetmarkets for the BBG.

At the same time, the committee's recommendations make clear thatthe BBG will need to continue to reduce or eliminate shortwavebroadcasts where there is either minimal audience or thataudience is not a U.S. foreign policy priority. It also ratifiesreductions that were made in redundant signals in 2013 andfurther cuts in transmissions that were made in 2014.

Even with these recent reductions, the BBG makes programs in 35of its 61 broadcast languages available on shortwave where thereis a strategic reason to do so.

The report notes there is no evidence that shortwave usageincreases during crises. At such times, audiences continue to usetheir preferred platforms or seek out anti-censorship tools tohelp them navigate to the news online, including firewallcircumvention tools or offline media including thumb drives andDVDs.

The Shortwave Committee report will be discussed at the August 13public meeting of the Broadcasting Board of Governors.

VOA Mandarin continues its daily MFSK transmissions, now MFSK16 centered on
2000 Hz. Very precise tuning of the audio frequency is necessary for a successful decode of MFSK16.

Daily (each transmission is 1 minute, 22 seconds):

2258 UTC 6135 9845 kHz

0058 UTC 9880 15385 15565 17560 kHz

Via Asian relay stations

Please send reception reports for the VOA Mandarin MFSK tests to
radiogram@voanews.com. Audio
recordings would be appreciated, but no need to send audio if the MFSK
is not heard well enough for at least a 50% decode.

The Mighty KBC
will transmit a minute of MFSK64 Saturday at about 1130 UTC on 6095
kHz, and Sunday about 0130 UTC (Saturday 9:30 pm EDT) on 9925 kHz. Both
frequencies
are via Germany. Reports to themightykbc@gmail.com .

The U.S. Broadcasting Board of Governors
will meet Wednesday, 13 August, beginning at 1300 UTC. The meeting will
include discussion of the BBG shortwave committee report. Live and
on-demand video will
be available here:
http://www.bbg.gov/blog/2013/10/24/board-meeting-august-13-2014/

Thank you for your reception reports from last weekend. I will respond before this weekend is over.

WATCHES AND WARNINGS--------------------CHANGES IN WATCHES AND WARNINGS WITH THIS ADVISORY...

A TROPICAL STORM WARNING HAS BEEN ISSUED FOR KAUAI COUNTY.

SUMMARY OF WATCHES AND WARNINGS IN EFFECT...

A HURRICANE WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR...* HAWAII COUNTY

A TROPICAL STORM WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR...* MAUI COUNTY...INCLUDING THE ISLANDS OF MAUI...MOLOKAI...LANAI... AND KAHOOLAWE.* OAHU* KAUAI COUNTY INCLUDING THE ISLANDS OF KAUAI AND NIIHAU.

A HURRICANE WARNING MEANS THAT HURRICANE CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTEDSOMEWHERE WITHIN THE WARNING AREA. PREPARATIONS TO PROTECT LIFE ANDPROPERTY SHOULD BE RUSHED TO COMPLETION.

A TROPICAL STORM WARNING MEANS THAT TROPICAL STORM CONDITIONS AREEXPECTED SOMEWHERE WITHIN THE WARNING AREA WITHIN 36 HOURS.

INTERESTS IN THE NORTHWEST HAWAIIAN ISLANDS SHOULD MONITOR THEPROGRESS OF ISELLE.

FOR STORM INFORMATION SPECIFIC TO YOUR AREA...PLEASE MONITORPRODUCTS ISSUED BY THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OFFICE INHONOLULU HAWAII.

DISCUSSION AND 48-HOUR OUTLOOK------------------------------AT 500 AM HST...1500 UTC...THE CENTER OF HURRICANE ISELLE WASLOCATED NEAR LATITUDE 18.5 NORTH...LONGITUDE 150.6 WEST. ISELLE ISMOVING TOWARD THE WEST-NORTHWEST NEAR 17 MPH...28 KM/H...AND THISMOTION IS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE THROUGH FRIDAY...WITH SOME SLOWING IN FORWARD SPEED ON FRIDAY NIGHT. ON THE FORECAST TRACK...THE CENTER OF ISELLE IS EXPECTED TO PASS OVER THE BIG ISLAND TONIGHT...AND PASS JUST SOUTH OF THE SMALLER ISLANDS FRIDAY.

MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS ARE NEAR 80 MPH...130 KM/H...WITH HIGHERGUSTS. SOME WEAKENING IS FORECAST DURING THE NEXT 48 HOURS...BUT ISELLE IS EXPECTED TO BE NEAR HURRICANE STRENGTH AS IT MAKES LANDFALL ON THE BIG ISLAND TONIGHT.

HAZARDS AFFECTING LAND----------------------WIND...THE ONSET OF TROPICAL STORM CONDITIONS IS EXPECTED ON THEBIG ISLAND OF HAWAII THIS AFTERNOON...WITH HURRICANE CONDITIONSEXPECTED TONIGHT. TROPICAL STORM CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED OVER MAUI COUNTY TONIGHT...OVER OAHU ON FRIDAY...AND OVER KAUAI COUNTY ON FRIDAY AFTERNOON.

SURF...VERY LARGE AND DAMAGING SURF IS EXPECTED TO RAPIDLY BUILD ALONG EAST AND SOUTH FACING SHORES TODAY AND TONIGHT...ESPECIALLY ON THE BIG ISLAND.

RAINFALL...RAINFALL TOTALS OF 5 TO 8 INCHES...WITH ISOLATED MAXIMUMAMOUNTS TO 12 INCHES...ARE EXPECTED ALONG THE TRACK OF ISELLE.THESE RAINS COULD CAUSE LIFE-THREATENING FLASH FLOODS AS WELL ASROCK AND MUD SLIDES.

STORM SURGE...THE COMBINATION OF A DANGEROUS STORM SURGE AND THETIDE WILL CAUSE NORMALLY DRY AREAS NEAR THE COAST TO BE FLOODED BYRISING WATERS. THE WATER COULD REACH THE FOLLOWING HEIGHTS ABOVEGROUND IF THE PEAK SURGE OCCURS AT THE TIME OF HIGH TIDE...

BIG ISLAND WINDWARD AND KAU...1 TO 3 FT

THE HIGHEST WATER WILL OCCUR ALONG THE IMMEDIATE COAST IN AREAS OFONSHORE FLOW. THE SURGE WILL BE ACCOMPANIED BY LARGE AND DAMAGINGWAVES. SURGE RELATED FLOODING DEPENDS ON THE RELATIVE TIMING OF THESURGE AND THE TIDAL CYCLE...AND CAN VARY GREATLY OVER SHORT DISTANCES.